Document (album) explained

Document
Type:studio
Artist:R.E.M.
Cover:R.E.M. - Document.jpg
Recorded:March–May 1987
Studio:Sound Emporium (Nashville, Tennessee)
Genre:
Label:I.R.S.
Producer:
Prev Title:Dead Letter Office
Prev Year:1987
Next Title:Succumbs
Next Year:1987

Document is the fifth studio album by American rock band R.E.M., released on August 31, 1987, by I.R.S. Records. It was the first album by the band to be produced by Scott Litt.

Continuing in the vein of their previous album Lifes Rich Pageant, Document features more audible lyrics and a harder rock sound in comparison to the band's earlier releases. The album became R.E.M.'s greatest success at the time, giving the band their first top 10 hit ("The One I Love") and album, peaking at number 10 on the Billboard 200.

Composition

Document was R.E.M.'s first album to be co-produced both by the band and Scott Litt; this was a collaboration that continued through the productions of Green, Out of Time, Automatic for the People, Monster, and New Adventures in Hi-Fi. The album's clear production and muscular rock riffs both helped to move the band toward mainstream success and built on the work done by Don Gehman, who had produced their previous album Lifes Rich Pageant. This release not only launched "The One I Love" — R.E.M.'s first Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 9 — but also gave them their first platinum album.

"Strange" was originally recorded by post-punk band Wire on their debut album Pink Flag.

R.E.M. expanded their instrumentation somewhat on the album, adding a dulcimer to "King of Birds" and a saxophone to "Fireplace".[3] Steve Berlin was brought in to add his saxophone skills because of a prior relationship with producer Scott Litt.[4] This experimentation would lead to their adoption of the mandolin, which featured prominently on their subsequent albums Green and Out of Time; furthermore, the band's musicians began swapping instruments both in concert and the studio with an effort to create new sounds and avoid stagnation.[5]

Packaging

The original sleeve for the album featured the message "File under Fire", a reference to what Michael Stipe considered to be the central lyrical theme of the album, and also references the chorus to "The One I Love".[6] A similar message ("File under water") could be found on the cover of the band's second album, Reckoning, as well as on the compilation album Eponymous ("File under grain") referring to the idea behind "Talk About the Passion", which was about hunger.[7] Two rejected suggestions for the title of the album—R.E.M. No. 5 and Table of Content—also appear on the sleeve artwork.[8] Other possible album titles included Mr. Evil Breakfast, Skin Up with R.E.M., and Last Train to Disneyland (the last one having been suggested by Peter Buck, who felt that America under the presidency of Ronald Reagan was beginning to feel a lot like the famed amusement park).[9]

Critical reception

In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau said that R.E.M. had moved on from their past work's escapism and that "their discovery of the outside world has sharpened their sense of humor along with everything else", citing "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" as an "inspirational title".[10] Rolling Stone reviewer David Fricke felt that the album was R.E.M.'s "finest to date", and said that "Document is the sound of R.E.M. on the move".

Los Angeles Times critic Chris Willman complimented the diversity of the music and themes, observing, "Document is a tougher, meaner, leaner record than its immediate predecessors—replacing the jangly, sprightly, romantic sound the band became known for with a far more hard-edged guitar sound, as well as tenser rock rhythms. It's predictably cryptic indeed at times, but the opaque mystery that was so enticingly R.E.M. has been largely replaced here with something more definite and immediately tangible."

Uncuts Andrew Mueller praised Document in a retrospective review, saying, "If 1986's Lifes Rich Pageant had marked the beginnings of R.E.M.'s emergence from their cocoon of indie diffidence, 1987's Document was where they first properly reconciled themselves to their destiny as the only group of the 1980s American college-rock milieu to graduate to stadiums, and stay there." David Browne of Entertainment Weekly observed, "The record that gave R.E.M. a top 10 hit ('The One I Love') mostly does no more than consolidate their strengths but has moments of undeniable power and the most sardonic apocalypse ever recorded, 'It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine).'" Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said that "where Lifes Rich Pageant sounded a bit like a party record, Document is a fiery statement, and its memorable melodies and riffs are made all the more indelible by its righteous anger."

Rolling Stone went on to include Document in their list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s (in 41st place), and then ranked it number 462 on 2012 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[11] In 2012, Slant Magazine listed the album at number 17 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s".[12]

Reissue

In 1999, the album was remastered by Bob Ludwig and re-released on Compact Disc by I.R.S. Records in the United States. This version came in a replica of the record sleeve made of cardboard. In 2005, Capitol Records (whose then parent company EMI at that time owned I.R.S. Records' catalog) issued an expanded DualDisc edition of Document which includes a digitally remastered version of the album on the CD side, a DVD-Audio, DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1-channel surround sound mix of the album done by Elliot Scheiner on the DVD side, and the original CD booklet.

Track listing

All songs were written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, except where noted.

Side one – "Page side"

  1. "Finest Worksong" – 3:48
  2. "Welcome to the Occupation" – 2:46
  3. "Exhuming McCarthy" – 3:19
  4. "Disturbance at the Heron House" – 3:32
  5. "Strange" (Bruce Gilbert, Graham Lewis, Colin Newman, Robert Grey) – 2:31
  6. "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" – 4:05

Side two – "Leaf side"

  1. "The One I Love" – 3:17
  2. "Fireplace" – 3:22
  3. "Lightnin' Hopkins" – 3:20
  4. "King of Birds" – 4:09
  5. "Oddfellows Local 151" – 5:21

Personnel

R.E.M.

Additional musicians

Production

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Album
YearChartPeak
position
Weeks on
chart
1987Billboard 20010[13] 33[14]
1987UK Albums Chart285[15]
1987Australia (Kent Music Report)479[16]

Singles

YearSongChartPosition
1987"It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks16
1987"It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"Billboard Hot 10069
1987"The One I Love"Billboard Hot 1009
1988"The One I Love"Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks2
1988"Finest Worksong"Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks28
1988"Finest Worksong"UK Singles Chart50
1988"The One I Love"UK Singles Chart51
1991"The One I Love"UK Singles Chart16
1991"It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"UK Singles Chart39

Certifications and sales

OrganizationLevelDate
RIAA – USGoldNovember 2, 1987[17]
RIAA – USPlatinumJanuary 25, 1988
BPI – UKGoldJuly 22, 2013[18]

Release history

RegionDateLabelFormatCatalog
United StatesI.R.S.vinyl LPIRS-42059
Compact DiscIRSD-42059
cassette tapeIRSC-42059
United KingdomI.R.S.LPIRLD 19144/MIRG1025
AustraliaI.R.S.LP460105 1
BrazilEpicLP231111
GreeceI.R.S./CBSLPILP-460105 1
JapanI.R.S.LP28AP-3382
The NetherlandsI.R.S.LPILP-460105 1
ZimbabweCBSLPASF-3174
WorldwideMCACompact Disc42059
I.R.S.cassette tapeIRSC-42059
WorldwideUniversalCompact Disc19144
The NetherlandsI.R.S.Compact Disc7 13200 2 6†
BrazilEMICompact Disc7 13200-2
WorldwideEMICompact Disc1508
United KingdomI.R.S.LP0777/CTMCD 337†
WorldwideEMICompact Disc337
WorldwideCapitolCompact Disc93480
WorldwideCapitolCompact Disc21276
United StatesI.R.S.LP724349946613-4
Compact Disc72435-21276-2-7‡
EuropeEMICompact Disc13200†
United StatesEMILP499466
United StatesCapitolDVD-Audio90149•
United StatesCapitolDualDisc99398•
United StatesCapitolLP220591
United StatesCapitol / EMICompact Disc5099997200628††

Notes

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Sculley, Alan . September 5, 2003 . U.S.-bound R.E.M. works at being a trio on tour . Bay Area News Group . 1 . 1068-5936.
  2. Web site: R.E.M.: Document (25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), PopMatters. September 27, 2012.
  3. Web site: music-nerds.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20071012170547/http://music-nerds.com/album.php?id=18 . 2007-10-12 .
  4. Web site: Steve Berlin of Los Lobos on R.E.M. and Sharing the Planet with Paul Westerberg . Murray . Noel . . September 14, 2012.
  5. Greene . Andy . R.E.M. Reflect on 'Green' on the Album's 25th Anniversary . . 2013-05-10 . 2016-12-21.
  6. Web site: www.rem-central.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070928195240/http://www.rem-central.com/archives/509 . 2007-09-28 .
  7. Web site: Reckoning - Everything2.com.
  8. R.E.M. in Time: The Story Behind Every Song, Craig Rosen, 1997
  9. Reveal: The Story of R.E.M., Johnny Black, 2004
  10. News: Christgau's Consumer Guide . . December 29, 1987 . August 31, 2015 . Christgau . Robert . Robert Christgau.
  11. Web site: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. 2012. Rolling Stone. September 2, 2019.
  12. Web site: Best Albums of the 1980s, page 9 . . March 5, 2012 . March 22, 2012.
  13. R.E.M.. Billboard.
  14. Web site: Document – R.E.M. Awards. Allmusic. AllMusic, a division of All Media Network, LLC.. 18 June 2014.
  15. Web site: R.E.M. Artist Official Charts Company. Official Charts Company. The Official UK Charts Company. 18 June 2014. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130313000058/http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/r.e.m./. 13 March 2013.
  16. Book: . Kent, David . David Kent (historian) . Australian Chart Book . St Ives . 1993 . 244 . 0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between 1983 and June 19, 1988.
  17. Web site: RIAA – Gold & Platinum Searchable Database. RIAA. 18 June 2014.
  18. Web site: Certified Awards . BPI . 18 June 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140625075145/http://www.bpi.co.uk/certified-awards.aspx . 25 June 2014 .